By Robyn Reede
Santa Fe, NM (The Hollywood Times) 12/1/16 – Greetings from the Land of Enchantment where the movie biz is hot but the weather is cold and the Santa Fe Ski Area opens on Saturday. But, New Mexico is still red hot in its movie and television productions.
Premium Network Epix has renewed Graves starring Nick Nolte which has received a 10 episode reorder with production to start in January, 2017. The Night Shift from Sony Pictures has been renewed for Season 4 by NBC. The sixth and final season of the Netflix hit Longmire will also continue here. The television pilot, Monsters of God, produced by TNT, starring Garret Dillahunt
(“12 Years A Slave”), Lauren Ambrose (“Six Feet Under”), Brian Geraghty (“Chicago P.D.”), Caitlin Gerard (“American Crime”), Pat Healy (“Cheap Thrills”) and Kwame Patterson (“The Wire”) is filming through December in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Monsters of God continues the great run of productions that have chosen Santa Fe County for its iconic looks and variety. “Bienvenidos!” said Katherine Miller, Santa Fe County Manager, which means Welcome!!!
The television series Better Call Saul” produced by Sony Pictures Television and starring Bob Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad,” “Fargo”) will be filming it’s 3rd season in Albuquerque, NM. Better Call Saul season three is executive produced by showrunners Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) and Peter Gould (“Breaking Bad”), Mark Johnson (“Breaking Bad”), Melissa Bernstein (“Breaking Bad”) and Thomas Schnauz (“Breaking Bad”), and Gennifer Hutchison (“Breaking Bad”). “Better Call Saul,” is a “Breaking Bad” prequel, focusing on the evolution of the popular Saul Goodman character before he became Walter White’s lawyer.
EPIX original television series, “Get Shorty,” produced by MGM Television, will begin principal photography through May 2017 in and around Albuquerque, NM and Los Angeles, CA. Screen Actors Guild Award® and BAFTA TV Award nominee Chris O’Dowd (“Girls,” “St. Vincent,” “Bridesmaids”) and multiple Emmy® winner Ray Romano (“Vinyl,” “Parenthood,” “Everybody Loves Raymond”) are set to star in the 10-episode one hour straight-to-series dark comedy inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 1990 New York Times best-selling classic novel of the same name. Joining Romano and O’Dowd will be series regulars: Get Shorty will be co-executive produced by Adam Arkin, who will also direct three episodes, and Emmy nominee Allen Coulter (“The Sopranos,” “Damages”), who will direct and also executive produce the first episode. “It’s an incredible opportunity to partner with MGM on Elmore Leonard’s timeless classic, which will be re-envisioned by Davey Holmes and directed by Allen Coulter,” said Mark S. Greenberg, President and CEO, EPIX.
The NBC television series, Midnight, Texas,” produced by Universal Television and David Janollari Entertainment is filming in October through February 2017 in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Bernalillo and Belen. “Like Midnight itself, Santa Fe is also a ‘safe haven’ for those who are different. We’re very happy to have this production here,” said Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales. Based on the New York Times best-selling book series by Charlaine Harris (author of the novels that inspired “True Blood”), comes a journey into a remote Texas town where being normal is really quite strange and only outsiders fit in. Home to a vampire, witch, angel and hit woman, Midnight, Texas is a mysterious safe haven for those who are different. That is, until the arrival of a powerful psychic and the murder of one of their own. As the town members fight off outside pressures from ever-suspicious cops, deadly biker gangs, and their own dangerous pasts, they band together and form an unlikely but strong family. Francois Arnaud (“The Borgias”), Dylan Bruce (“Orphan Black,”), Parisa Fitz-Henley (“Luke Cage”), Arielle Kebbel (“Vampire Diaries”), Jason Lewis (“Sex and the City”), Peter Mensah (“True Blood”), Sarah Ramos (“Parenthood”) and Yul Vazquez (“Bloodline”) star in the series
The feature Horse Soldiers, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Black Label Media will be filming in early December thru mid-February (2017) in and around Albuquerque, Socorro and Alamogordo.
Also starting production is the feature Be My Baby produced by Real Grande Entertainment LLC in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The film is directed by Farhad Mann (“Twist of Fate,” “Hopeless Romantic,” “Fatal Memories,” “Fighting for Freedom”) and produced by Gilles Laplante (“Ties that Bind,” “Heart Felt,” “Manny Dearest,” “Underground Nightmare,” “Bloodsuckers”). “Be My Baby” is the story of Danielle Matthews who kills her husband and goes on the lam with her infant daughter Cali. When the cops draw close, Danielle abandons the child but is caught and sent to prison, agreeing to give full custody of Cali to her estranged sister Nikki. But when Danielle is released from prison, she again teams up with her boyfriend to get Cali back from Nikki at any cost.
The feature film Soldado, the sequel to the Academy Award®-nominated Sicario, just started production in New Mexico. The action-drama is being produced by Black Label Media and Thunder Road Pictures, and will be distributed by Lionsgate. “Soldado” finds Academy Award® winner Benicio Del Toro (“Sicario,” “Traffic”) reprising his role as the inscrutable attorney-turned-assassin Alejandro, paired onscreen with Academy Award® nominee Josh Brolin (“Sicario,” “No Country for Old Men”) who returns as the pragmatic CIA operative Matt Graver. Joining the cast is Academy Award® nominee Catherine Keener (“Capote”), who will portray Graver’s boss. Stefano Sollima (“Gomorrah,” “Suburra”) will direct from an original script by Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario,” “Hell or High Water”). A follow-up to the 2015 film “Sicario,” the even more volatile “Soldado” follows the character of Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) as he makes a deadly alliance with Matt (Josh Brolin) to take on the new crown jewel of Mexico’s cartels: human trafficking. “Soldado” will film predominantly in New Mexico, shooting from November 2016 through January 2017 on location in and around Albuquerque, To’hajiilee, Laguna Pueblo, Bernalillo, and Algodones.
Told you we are red-hot and busy, busy!!
